Posted on 07/05/2015 7:54:25 PM PDT by lbryce
NASA’s New Horizons mission is returning to normal science operations after a July 4 anomaly and remains on track for its July 14 flyby of Pluto.
The investigation into the anomaly that caused New Horizons to enter “safe mode” on July 4 has concluded that no hardware or software fault occurred on the spacecraft. The underlying cause of the incident was a hard-to-detect timing flaw in the spacecraft command sequence that occurred during an operation to prepare for the close flyby. No similar operations are planned for the remainder of the Pluto encounter.
“I’m pleased that our mission team quickly identified the problem and assured the health of the spacecraft,” said Jim Green, NASA’s Director of Planetary Science. “Now – with Pluto in our sights – we’re on the verge of returning to normal operations and going for the gold.”
Preparations are ongoing to resume the originally planned science operations on July 7 and to conduct the entire close flyby sequence as planned. The mission science team and principal investigator have concluded that the science observations lost during the anomaly recovery do not affect any primary objectives of the mission, with a minimal effect on lesser objectives. “In terms of science, it won’t change an A-plus even into an A,” said New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder.
(Excerpt) Read more at nasa.gov ...
I want to see this work. I am interested in Astronomy, and am following this thing as it goes to Pluto
I do too. It would be a crushing disappointment, after 9 years in space, for the probe to go tits-up barely a week away from its 2 hour rendezvous.
What do you expect when NASA cuts the feed (and provides a lousy “the dog ate my homework” excuse) every time something really interesting happens?
It is aware, and it is making its own plans!
This is hugh and series!!
If they'd gone all this time and all that way for a single 2 hour flyby, and effed it up, it would pretty much finish NASA. Thanks lbryce, extra to APoD.
That’s a relief, at least to me. I want to see what they find when they’re closer.
Nice pic. Seriously though, I think those expecting the detailed, high-def photos of the likes of Jupiter, Saturn and their moons that we've grown accustomed to are going to be disappointed. The fly-by is going to be quick. It's 4 billion miles away. Pluto is small and dark. I'm expecting fuzzy, low-def images of a monochromatic, cold, gray sphere.
I hope I'm wrong.
Color shots are already available. Recently revealed: four equidistant, huge dark splotches around the planet’s equator: http://www.universetoday.com/121158/red-faced-pluto-full-of-surprises/
Almost as much fun as that belt around Iapetus, making that moon look like a walnut, or the speculation that Phobos might be hollow...
With little to go on, I’d guess that the 4 dark spots are shadows from massive vent-plumes pushing gas up into Pluto’s atmosphere.
Sandra Bullock in ‘Gravity’ or Kate Upton in zero gravity, and you’ve got our attention.
Egad! We’re doomed! For one thing, we’re all going to wind up in the remake of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”!
It will be passing inside the Orbit of Charon and will be a bit over 7000 miles away at its closest approach. It will do a lot of science over about 2 hours. They say it will take over a year to send collected info back to earth.
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